


Dumpster Fire

by teaflings



Series: TPOL fics [1]
Category: Dungeons & Dragons (Roleplaying Game), The Power of Luvv
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-24
Updated: 2019-10-24
Packaged: 2021-01-02 05:37:31
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,066
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21156494
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/teaflings/pseuds/teaflings
Summary: The infamous Dumpster Fire, aka Reva Fucks Up.Sometimes when you're a baby pirate tiefling that doesn't know about tiefling magic and you get stabbed, you panic, and then Hellish Rebuke happens and the guy that stabbed you gets a little too crispy. That doesn't end well for anyone, especially when your girlfriend finds out.





	Dumpster Fire

**Author's Note:**

> I think this is the first thing I ever wrote for the Power of Luvv campaign?  
A piece of Reva's backstory.

"My god!" Ariah sounds horrified, and Reva guesses that's at least a little bit fair, considering the extremely charred corpse that she's currently sitting next to. Reva is tired from blood loss and angry with herself for losing control over her scant amount of magic in response to being stabbed, and she does not have the energy left to deal logically with this confrontation.  
"Gods," she says, "are worth shit."  
"That is blasphemy," Ariah, ever the perfect rules-abiding paladin, says, and this time it pisses Reva off enough to do something entirely stupid.  
She has to cough and spit blood onto the cobblestones next to her before she can yank up the sides of her shirt and tunic, hissing a bit when the edge of the fabric catches on the knife wound in her left side. She carefully twists to turn her right ribs towards Ariah before she shuts her eyes and dispels the illusion over the tattoo of an octopus curling around her side and lower ribs.  
It takes Ariah a few seconds to recognize what changed. The difference is subtle, but Reva knows that the black ink is dark enough against her splotchy grey skin for it to be noticeable. The octopus is still there, balefully watching the world, but it's a little smaller now, and its tentacles leave enough room just to the side of Reva's sternum for a tattooed black disc maybe an inch wide with a thin red band around it. She watches Ariah's face carefully, and when her expression cracks enough for Reva to be sure that she recognizes the symbol she pulls her shirt back down and laughs, ignoring the fresh blood in her mouth. "Don't tell me I've stolen your heart, babe," she drawls.  
Ariah is openly gaping at her now, unsure of what to say, and Reva enjoys the twisted burn of satisfaction she gets from it. "Where did you get that?"  
"One of my crewmates and I both got it when she went to the church. We were maybe eleven." Reva says, more than a touch bitterly. "At that point there was nothing I wanted more than to go there with her, but I never heard His voice directly and they decided I had the skills that would benefit from more practical application. My hometown isn't just some backwater fishing village, Ariah."  
"That," Ariah says, "is fucked up."  
"You know jack shit, elf," Reva snarls, suddenly furious. "We believe, we pray, and He abandoned me-"  
"Of course He did," Ariah shouts at her, "He's not one of the good guys, Reva!"  
"Just because your god is some fucking useless goody two-shoes doesn't mean the rest of them are rooting for the end of the world," she screams back just as loud.  
"What would you know of the gods, what do you know of being good," Ariah hisses, her eyes drawn into thin slits and her face a mask that Reva finds equal parts beautiful and terrifying. "Which one of your parents carries blood directly from the Hells, Reva? What do they teach baby demon spawn in fantasy Sunday school?"  
"Fuck you! I know that mine left me here without the ocean and without my crewmates or my family and that's all I fucking need to know." Reva wheezes, letting the blood trickle out of her mouth before she does her best to show too many of her inhumanly sharp teeth in a grin. She's done this trick before, back when she regularly was part of boarding parties crossing over to unsuspecting merchant ships, and she knows that the combination of her eyes, teeth, and blood-smeared face scare people.  
"You're an abomination," Ariah says, and now there's one hand on the hilt of the longsword hanging from her belt.  
"Got it in one, dearheart," Reva run a hand through the blood on her face. "A pathetic, godless abomination," and she grabs the front of Ariah's tunic to pull her down to her level. "That you loved." Reva wipes her bloody hand across Ariah's face and lets herself slump back into the wall of the building behind her. Ariah doesn't visibly react, doesn't correct Reva's use of the past tense, and it breaks Reva's heart a little bit more with every passing second. She's so tired, and even Reva with her practically nonexistent knowledge of anatomy and healing can tell that there is a lot more blood outside of her body than there should be.  
"Don't make me do this," Ariah says, suddenly looking as exhausted as Reva feels.  
"Where do you think I get the money that you feed the fucking kids with? Ferrying people through the channels doesn't pay that well, you absolute idiot. I'm a liar and a thief and a pirate- how did you not fucking realize?" Reva is shouting again and it's making her head swim a little more. "I didn’t mean to do this. I had no ide- did you realize I was so alone before I met you," she says much more quietly, and it's not a question she ever wants answered. "Do you believe in destiny? They told me to leave, that my own god wanted me to leave. He never spoke to me but that was it- my very own bullshit piece of divine destiny." She knows she's just rambling her way through the blood loss now, because she says, "the worst part was that I was fine with it. I thought I was going to be okay."  
The sudden amount of sorrow in Ariah's expression isn't something that Reva expected or can handle looking at right now, and so she lets her eyes slide shut and refuses to open them when she feels Ariah's hands on either side of her face.  
"You know I do," Ariah says softly, and Reva has to blink rapidly to keep her eyes mostly dry. "You are going to be fine, love," Ariah promises her. Reva flinches back as her palms grow hot, but Ariah doesn't let go, just slides her warmer hand down over Reva’s left collarbone and a familiar kind of healing magic burns through some of Reva's growing collection of pain. She doesn't catch what else Ariah says before she stands back up through the ringing in her ears, but she does register Ariah briefly kissing her forehead and then whistling for the city watch before she sinks into unconsciousness.


End file.
